PARIS — Armenian-American professor Mark Moogalian who was hailed as a hero by President Francois Hollande for his “courage” was shot while trying to disarm a gunman wielding an AK-47 aboard a high-speed train, according to his wife.

Moogalian is a member of a family of Armenian descent with deep roots in Virginia. Relatives operated a grocery for many years in the Hopewell area.

“We couldn’t be more proud,” said an uncle, Harry Moogalian. He said in an interview Monday morning that the family is still trying to sort out the sequence of events that left the author and musician shot and hospitalized. Moogalian said the family here is still awaiting word about his nephew’s condition.

Moogalian, a 51-year-old English professor at the Sorbonne, spotted a suspicious passenger while traveling on the Amsterdam to Paris train Friday.

“My husband told me that he had seen someone strange because he had entered the toilets with his suitcase and it lasted a long time,” Moogalian’s wife Isabelle told Europe1 radio Monday. “A little while later the guy came out and that’s when he saw that the guy was carrying a gun.”

Isabelle Moogalian, who was also aboard the train, said her husband spotted the gunman “being grabbed from behind by a different person” — thought to be a 29-year-old French banker who has chosen to stay anonymous.

Mark Moogalian told his wife to “go” and then “rushed towards the gunman to remove … the Kalashnikov.”

She added: “I did not see my husband get shot, it happened too quickly and I was pretty much hiding behind seats. But I look at my husband through the seats at an angle and he looked straight at me and said, ‘I’m hit!’ … There was blood everywhere. I ran towards him and I could see that he had a wound on his back, I then saw another wound by his neck.”

Isabelle Moogalian recounted racing through the train searching for a doctor, screaming: “Help me! Help me!”

In the next carriage, she found three vacationing Americans and a British businessman who were subduing the gunman.

She credited Spencer Stone, a 23-year-old U.S. airman who had been traveling through Europe with two friends, for saving the life of the professor of English.

“He put his finger on my husband’s neck wound to stop the hemorrhaging continuing and he stayed in this position during the whole voyage,” she told Europe1.

The American trio and the Briton stripped the suspect of an AK-47, pistol, a blade and a bag of ammunition. The 26-year-old Moroccan told a lawyer that he only intended to rob “wealthy people” on the train.

Armenpress reports, referring to The Telegraph, that Mark Moogalian,
a 51-year-old Armenian professor at the Sorbonne, tackled Ayoub
El-Khazzani during Friday's bloody incident aboard an Amsterdam-Paris
global service August 21.

"I saw a young man arrived with a large suitcase with wheels".

Using their fists and a chokehold, the three men finally rendered the
suspect unconscious and tied him up, with help from other passengers.

When Mark went down that's when the gunman retrieved the AK 47.

The academic acted instinctively to protect his wife, Isabella
Risacher, who was also on board the Thalys train. "He saw that he had
a gun and somehow got it away from him and took off running down the
track to warn everybody else and that's when he was shot".

"I felt a giant pain in the back".

"It was a very scary moment because what I saw was the man fall to
the floor, right?"

"I think as citizens, we need to really move forward and we need to
take some of the responsibility for it", he said, referring to the
battle against terrorism.

The train attack in France could have been much, much worse if not
for some selfless heroes who refused to standby. Where are you from?

According to French President Francois Hollande, a Frenchman was the
first to encounter the gunman as he left the toilet, alerting others
in the area.

"This is serious"... Isabelle Risacher says her husband Mark Mooligan
almost paid with his life.

He tackled the Kalashnikov assault rifle off El-Khazzani, who then
drew a sidearm and shot him in the neck before taking back the rifle,
his sister has revealed.

"Mark is one of the most compassionate people I've ever known". "Am
I going to simply stand still or am I going to try to be active if
the situation presents itself?" he said. Mark then turned around to
get his wife out of harm's way but did not realize the gunman still
had a pistol.

He will be receiving the Legion of Honor, which U.S. Airman Spencer
Stone, National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos, and college student Anthony
Sadler received in a ceremony with French President Francois Hollande
yesterday.

Mr Moogalian runs a language school from a houseboat in the outskirts
of Paris, according to the school's website. Music and art are clearly
his passions, as his personal website attests, with its range of
sculpture, paintings, photos and downloads of music he performs in
a duo with his wife.

Moogalian and the Frenchman will receive the Legion of Honor, as did
Airman 1st Class Spencer Stone, U.S. Army Spc.